Student success should come from celebrating successes, not punishing children’s behavior. Restorative Practices in Schools have emerged as a transformative approach to building strong schools and communities and keeping children out of the juvenile justice system. In Delaware, the continued shift away from punitive disciplinary practices in favor of a more holistic, community-based model is showing promising results in promoting an inclusive school climate. These changes reduce disparities, encourage problem-solving, and promote opportunities for healing, particularly among students of color who are disproportionately impacted by harsh disciplinary measures.
Restorative practices focus on establishing and maintaining healthy relationships, promoting empathy, and repairing harm. Relying on punitive measures fails to address the underlying causes of student behavior. Restorative practices encourage accountability, reconciliation, and opportunities for students and the adults who support them to take responsibility for their behavior and learn new and better patterns of behavior. When conflicts are resolved proactively and collaboratively, students are more likely to feel supported, respected, and motivated to engage constructively with their peers and teachers. By creating a supportive and inclusive environment that values all voices and experiences, restorative practices enable students to work toward positive change for themselves and their community as a whole, within and outside the school walls.
Restorative practices offer a more effective approach to improving student behavior and are a critical tool for addressing racial justice issues in our state’s education system. For students of color, especially those with special needs, restorative practices offer a much-needed alternative to the traditional punitive system that isolates, punishes, and expels them from classrooms. Research has shown and continues to show that implicit bias against Black and Brown students leads them to experience harsher discipline than their White peers for similar behaviors. Black students – particularly boys – are two to three times more likely to be suspended. This disproportionate impact can have far-reaching consequences, leading to increased academic disengagement. The overrepresentation of students of color in the “school-to-prison pipeline” – a disturbing national trend in which children are expelled from public schools and funneled into the juvenile and adult legal systems – perpetuates historical cycles of trauma and exclusion.
Restorative practices: A school district stopped suspending children for minor misbehavior. Here is what happened
Delaware schools across the state have begun to abandon punitive measures in favor of restorative practices. Yet opponents continue to resist progress, clinging to outdated principles…
